Investor Insights:
- The U.S. electrical grid faces three major problems in the energy crisis right now.
- As these power problems add up, a solution is emerging from an unexpected place.
- This technology could help investors realize windfall profits in the next few years.
Walk into a dark room, flip a switch and the lights come on.
Point your remote at the TV, press a few buttons and you’re watching the latest episode of This Is Us.
We take it for granted that electricity has been reliable for the past 100 years.
The U.S. electrical grid is the largest interconnected machine on Earth. It’s 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and 5.5 million miles of local distribution lines.
Yet it faces three major energy crisis problems right now:
- Foreign attacks. Hackers have been able to gain control of circuit breakers, giving them the ability to stop the flow of electricity. This threatens the stability of power for businesses such as hospitals, where power is a life-or-death issue.
- Failing infrastructure. Much of the U.S. grid was built between 1900 and 1960 as electricity spread throughout the country. This aging equipment is now in need of renovations and replacements.
- Natural disasters and severe weather. Hurricanes and tornadoes can seriously disrupt the power grid. Paired with aging infrastructure, harsh weather can cause serious downtime for those dependent on the power grid for electricity.
As these power problems add up, a solution is emerging from an unexpected place.
The Energy Breakthrough We’ve Been Waiting For
Automakers have spent billions over the past few decades on lithium-ion battery research.
And they’ve made significant scientific breakthroughs, allowing for cheaper, denser batteries.
As a result, the prices of lithium-ion batteries have fallen dramatically, from $900 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2010 to under $200 per kWh in 2018.
Researchers expect battery prices to continue falling, reaching $94 per kWh in 2024 and $62 per kWh in 2030.
These cheaper batteries will create a massive disruption in the auto markets, as electric vehicles become cheaper than gas guzzlers in the near future.
But autos aren’t the only use for cheaper batteries.
Energy Storage Is at a Tipping Point
A new household industry is emerging called energy storage systems.
In the next decades, households and businesses will purchase batteries to store energy in their homes and offices, rather than relying on the electrical grid.
And if you pair one of these energy storage systems with enough solar power, you might not have to rely on the antiquated grid at all.
That’s because energy storage solves two huge problems for renewables:
- We don’t consume energy at a constant pace. Most homes use more electricity in the mornings and evenings.
- The wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun isn’t always shining.
I expect annual lithium-ion battery installations in homes and businesses to grow nearly sixfold in the near future, from 3.1 gigawatt-hours in 2018 to 17.89 gigawatt-hours in 2022.
This is a tipping-point trend we’ve zeroed in on at Automatic Fortunes. That’s because it could help investors realize windfall profits in the next few years.
There are a few companies leading this charge. I wrote about one of them in a recent issue of my newsletter and about the energy crisis as a whole.
To learn more about Automatic Fortunes, click here.
Regards,
Editor, Automatic Fortunes
P.S. Thanks to a Nobel Prize-winning discovery, top tech companies including Google, Microsoft, Verizon, Facebook and Amazon are racing to acquire a “miracle material.” And a small California-based company — its stock trades for just $5 — holds the secret to unleashing a potential $12 trillion breakthrough. Click here to get the full story.
